


The Cracks

by yersifanel



Category: Glee
Genre: Eye Trauma, Injured Sebastian, M/M, Pre-Slash, Rape/Non-con Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-07-16 07:00:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7257253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yersifanel/pseuds/yersifanel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Elliot suggested a bar with a live band, Kurt wasn’t expecting the singer of said band to be Sebastian Smythe or that his first song would haunt him the rest of the night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Sebastian Smythe. Free Ship. An Encounter in New York.
> 
> Well Nonnie, I used your prompt to get an idea out I had in my head since months ago, so yeah... and encounter... with angst... because the Sebastian Angst department was calling me.
> 
> Also, this could be consider pre-slahs, kinda, maybe?
> 
> The Song Sebastian is singing is ["Girl With One Eye"](https://youtu.be/NC_his0-SKw) by Florence + the Machine. Let's pretend it's an original of his band for the sake of this story, yes? Thank you.

The place was called _'Momentum'_ and it was one of Elliot's favorite bars, because this local band named _'Flock of Albatross'_ sang live on the weekends. Kurt have been there once before, but at the time the live band that performed there was in a break, now there were back in schedule, Elliot suggested to break the habit and go to Momentum this time.

They all agree but really, Kurt should have asked something sooner.

Tell me more about this place, Elliot? What's so special about this band? Why did the band take a break? And the most important of them all: why the hell is their front man Sebastian Smythe?

That last one was ringing loudly, he didn't say anything of course, but Santana and Rachel knew why he was glaring at the brunette standing at the side of the stage while Elliott was pretty much in a perpetual state of confusion.

And Sebastian? He didn’t even look up from his notebook, still talking to the drummer and absentmindedly running his fingers over his hair. Sebastian he was wearing it down this time, partially covering his forehead, Kurt wasn't used to see him like that, so he was trying to spot more differences. It wasn't until Sebastian looked up to his side that Kurt noticed the eye patch over his left eye and his stomach did a flip.

He wanted to call it poetic justice but it felt wrong, somehow.

The band went on stage and Elliott looked happy, he smiled at Kurt brightly, "I missed them, the singer was in some kind of accident, they went on break after that."

"What happened to him?" Kurt asked, ignoring Santana's glare.

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "But he was in the hospital and well, the bartender said it was bad, I’m surprised they are performing, he's not completely well, see?"

Sebastian adjusted the mic, smiling at the crowd that clapped, regulars that knew the band and were there for their return, Kurt imagined. Elliott was right, he still looked tired and bruised, not to mention the patch covering his eye.

_"She told me not... to step on the cracks_  
_I told her not to fuss and relax_  
_Well, her pretty little face stopped me in my tracks_  
_But now she sleeps with one eye open_  
_That's the price she paid..."_

He covered his own injured eye while singing, smirking as if it was appropriate. The almost hunting music was sending shivers down Kurt's spine as Sebastian keep singing about a girl and how someone most have hurt her, how someone cut her eye out and watch it whiter and die.

Kurt felt a lump in his throat, the song had the wrong pronouns and probably was being signed by two points of view, but he was absolute sure Sebastian was not singing about a random girl, he was just playing the pronoun game in the lyrics.

As the music was taking a stronger pace, Sebastian sang as if he wasn't wearing an eye patch, as if the skin around his left eye was not brushed with purple, blue and green colors, as if he wasn't wearing a cast around his right wrist and there weren't dark marks under his shirt barely covered by the collar.

_"I slipped my hand under her skirt_  
_I said don't worry, it's not gonna hurt_  
_Oh, my reputation's kinda clouded with dirt_  
_That's why you sleep with one eye open_  
_That's the price you paid..."_

Sebastian closed his eye, singing about a girl with one eye, moving his hips and balancing his voice with the tempo of the song. Kurt watched him smile and turn, singing as if he was not the main character of such song, but in Kurt’s head there was no girl, only Sebastian worried in an encounter he was not sure about, denying someone and paying the price, one eye and a reputation clouded with dirt afterwards.

Didn't Kurt used to think the very same? Sebastian hooking with anyone willing in the back of Scandals or any other gay bar, Sebastian always willing to comply to any strangers' demands because the criminal chipmunk was a slut… of course, he never imagine Sebastian denying someone and getting hurt in return.

He covered his mouth with one hand, feeling his stomach turn, disgusted with his own train of thought.

Sebastian smiled and he finally crossed eyes with him and the goddamn bastard only smiled wider, a hint of something shinning in his good eye, but Kurt couldn't tell what it was.

The singer abruptly stood still, glaring at the crowd to close the song, _"I'll cut your little heart out… 'cause you made me cry...!"_

The light dimed and the public clapped and some even roared, Kurt could understand why, there was just so much emotion in Sebastian's singing he felt something too, but he didn't want to move, feeling that if he did he was going to run straight to the Ex-Dalton to demand and explanation.

He also wasn't sure he wanted to hear it.

The band continued singing, their songs kept that alternative rock, mixed punk feeling, the lyrics from the next few songs were lighter than the first one, but the impression was made and Kurt didn't know what to do of if he should do anything at all.

"So, Elliott, how come you never mention this band before?" Santana asked when the band took a break and Elliott gave her a confused look.

"I did, like a hundred times, you told me to shut it," he smiled sweetly. "They're great, aren't they?"

Rachel made a face, "Well yes… is just… Their lead singer is a terrible person, we meet him in highs cool."

Elliott tilted his head to a side, raising an eyebrow, "He seems really nice, though," he bit his longer lip, "Well, it's not rare for people to grow up after highs cool, I’ve spoke with him a couple times, he’s a really nice person."

Santana was glaring at Sebastian's back. The younger man was sitting at the far end of the bar with a water bottle in his hand, talking to his bad. She huffed and went back to her drink, "Well, you're not wrong."

Kurt didn't say anything, he was busy trying to set together a story with a ton of missing pieces, he could imagine many things but he would never get the full story.

Unless...

He stood up, ignoring Rachel's concerned voice and moved across the bar towards the table in the far end of the side line, where the band was gathering. His eyes set on Sebastian, with his half-drank water bottle and his electronic cigarette, blowing vapor to the air with a smirk in his face.

"Nice to see you Hummel," Sebastian acknowledge him while the band was staring with a mixture of curiosity and Kurt could swear some of them moved closer to Sebastian, as if Kurt was a threat.

In any other situation, he would have called it a ridiculous notion, but after that first song...

"That was a nice show," he finally said, "I never thought you had it in you, Smythe, original songs and not one synchronized dance in the set list."

The girl who played the bass rolled her eyes, brushing her purple and blue umbre hair behind her ear, "Bas, introduce us?"

Sebastian took another drag from his vapor and hummed, "This is Kurt Hummel, we were in rival Glee chorus, and they won Nationals."

His mouth immediately closed over his vape and Kurt felt the need to take that thing away from him but contained himself, "High school, it used to feel like the rivalry of a lifetime."

Umbre hair girl smirked, "Of course, most things feel like that in high school."

For some reason, Kurt felt she was making fun of him.

Sebastian stood up, vape in hand and a lazy smile, "I need some fresh air, wanna go outside Hummel?"

The guitar player was about to get up when Sebastian gently placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him, the other man wasn't happy about it.

"Bas."

"It's cool, Rich," he smiled at him, an actual smile not a smirk, "Yeah?"

"If you're not back in twenty I'm coming to get you," the guy who plays the drums declared, not leaving space for an argument, he didn't even look up from his phone.

Sebastian shrugged, walking towards the exit, "Yeah, that's ok."

Once outside they remained near the main entrance, the bouncer could see them but not heard them. Sebastian chose the place and did no movement to get further away from the place, sitting on the steps of the building opposite to the bar, taking another drag of vape.

"Congratulations by the way, for NYADA," he rested his back against the side of the wall, alert.

"Thanks..." Kurt wasn't sure how much Sebastian knew about his story in NYADA so he saved most of it to himself, "So, you're in New York."

"Yeah," Sebastian tilted his head to a side, "Columbia."

Kurt refused to let the awkward silence nest, he refused.

"And you also have a band," he signaled to the bar, "My friend said you regularly play here."

Sebastian blinked with his good eye, looking at him before smiling.

"You're cute."

"E-Excuse me?" he was torn between feeling embarrassed and angry.

"With the small talk an everything," he pointed to his left eye, "I know you want to ask, it's poetic, don't you think? I did almost blind Blaine, after all."

"I wasn't... well yes, I was, but not because of that!" Kurt ran his hands over his face, taking a deep breath, "What happened to you?"

Sebastian giggle, "No one threw a rock salted slushie at me, if that's what you were wondering, that would probably hurt less, though..."

He took another drag from the vape, Kurt was able to smell ginger in the air, it was faint but present.

"I told a guy to fuck off, he didn't appreciate it, beat the shit out of me, I fought back, he did this," he pointed to his eye and sighed. Kurt subconsciously felt the need to press his hand against his own eye but he didn't, instead he kept looking at Sebastian's good eye.

"Are you...?" he was going to ask if he was ok, but stopped upon realizing it was stupid question.

"I didn't lose the eye, here, take this, you're getting a bit green," he handed him the water bottle, "It has damage but I'm not blinded, its healing... and the responsible was arrested, thanks for the concern anyway, Princess."

Kurt held the water bottle in his hands, he was shaking, "I'm sorry, I just... your song... I thought..."

He couldn't say it, he didn't dare.

Kurt was sure Sebastian's attacker had taken more of him than his eye. The image of Sebastian struggling to get free as someone ripped his clothes off was engraved in Kurt’s head now, and he wanted to ask just to get ride of the thought but it was an awful thing to assume.

"He hurt you, didn't he?" Kurt was expecting Sebastian to laugh and make fun of him, he was wishing for Sebastian to do just that, he could take the laugh if only to shake this feeling off him.

But Sebastian didn’t laugh, he smiled sadly at him. He looked so resigned with that expression in his face that Kurt regretted coming here to talk to him.

"It’s not fair…"

"I got a reputation clouded with dirt," Sebastian sing-songed, "And that's the price I'll pay."

He stood up, dusting his pants off as Kurt heard footsteps coming and sure enough, the band's drummer was walking their way, glaring at Kurt before his eyes went back to Sebastian.

"We gotta go, Bas."

Sebastian was scribbling something in a card and gave it to Kurt, "Yeah, I'm coming."

He smiled at Kurt before jogging towards his band mate, his vape in his left hand, his casted right hand close to his body.

Kurt turned the card, seeing Sebastian's number scribbled in it and without second thought saved the number in his phone and sent a text with his name to Sebastian.

He felt numb, but his mind was whispering the need to see Sebastian again and Kurt didn't know what to make of it.

The following week Kurt listened to Sebastian sing again, but didn't have the courage to walk and talk to him. Perhaps was because facing Sebastian would be like admitting the other teen was not only human, but not the same arrogant boy from High School.

Sebastian had been badly hurt, yet he was far from broken. Kurt could relate to that but at the same time it scared him.

He will talk to Sebastian… just not now… maybe next time.


	2. Chapter 2

Sebastian's eyes were mesmerizing and the damn bastard knows it.

Kurt feels bad for staring at them. It's odd to avoid his gaze because he feels guilty by looking, but at the same time it's rude to avoid looking at someone in the eye when talking, Kurt is very conflicted.

He's no longer wearing the patch over his left eye, his injuries now completely healed. But the damage was done, and it shows. Sebastian's left eye is now a permanent shade of brown, contrary of his original green, if he didn't know the history behind those bi-colored eyes, he wouldn't feel so self-conscious of staring.

Sebastian chuckled, his hands moving over the case of the thick, black framed glasses. He closes the case with one hand, pulling the frame over his eyes with the other, and lifts his head to read the menu on the cafe's wall.

"Do you think marshmallow is too sweet?" his question caught Kurt off ward, or maybe it was because he wasn't actually paying attention to the menu.

"Excuse me?"

Sebastian chuckles again, his eyes shining and – goddamn it – he shouldn't be allowed to do that.

"The coffee, Hummel," He says, pointing to the wall. "Marshmallow frappuccino."

Kurt blinked once, turning towards the wall in contemplation of the special drinks, "If it's made with Marshmallow fluff, yes... it will be too sweet."

"Thought so," Sebastian nodded, narrowing his eyes in contemplation, "Eh, I'll go for a salted caramel mocha, sweet, no need for extra sugar and dark, it's usually dark roasted coffee, did you know? So you can taste the sea salt."

Kurt was wondering why Sebastian was making small talk about the coffee, but didn't want to appear too blunt about why they were here, "Oh..."

"Non-fat mocha for you?" he asked getting up from the chair, smiling down at Kurt, who nodded, "Be right back."

It wasn't until Kurt had sipped a quarter of his beverage that he noticed Sebastian knew his coffee order. Sebastian was talking about his band, they had gigs on the weekends mostly because all of them were students and while Sebastian loved music he was more interested in finishes his degree before taking anything seriously as a career.

"Music related?" Kurt asked, interested.

"Nope," Sebastian clicked his tongue, sipping his coffee, he smiled like the beverage was that good, "Pre-Law, but I'm not leaving music aside. I like it a lot."

"Well, you can sing, that much is true," Kurt's voice was casual or as casual as he could be when his brain was so distracted by Sebastian's mere presence that Kurt had to be careful to not say something rushed or inappropriate, staring was bad enough.

Sebastian sipped his coffee, dragging the minutes with him. Kurt made a conscious effort to stare at Sebastian's eyes and not his mouth.

"The glasses?" Kurt asked, finally. Sebastian raised a hand to interrupt him.

"I already wear glassed before an idiot decided to jab his thumb in my eye, no real change there, now I just look cooler, like David Bowie," he liked the straw, clicking his tongue and looking sexy in the process. Kurt bit the inside of his cheek – that was uncalled for.

Sebastian stopped playing with his coffee and asked, "So, tell me about you, New York, Blaine, your former-public-school friends."

"Charming as always," Kurt actually smiled. Sebastian was being annoying, but not complete rude, besides he wouldn't know what to do with a Sebastian that didn't behave like... well, _Sebastian_.

"Of course."

Kurt rolled his eyes, "Blaine and I are not together anymore," he confessed and strange enough, didn't bother him. Perhaps was because he didn't think Sebastian would go after his ex-boyfriend, they were well passed that.

Sebastian tilted his head to a side, wondering. "Are you ok?"

Kurt was expecting an interrogation about why his relationship with Blaine was done, not Sebastian's concern, his reaction told the other man that much.

"Yes," Kurt said quickly, before Sebastian could talk. "It wasn't pretty, at first it was really bad but... I'm okay now and so is Blaine, I think that, in time, we could be friends again."

Sebastian tilted his head, the straw between his lips and gave Kurt something resembling a smile. It was simple, open, and sincere and it made Kurt feel weird.

"So, you have a band..." he changed the subjected lamely and Sebastian smirked but didn't laugh.

"Yes, yes I have," he picked the straw, rolling it between his fingers, "Rich's in guitars, he's older than me and a complete mother hen but won't admit it out loud, just glare at you for saying it. The bass player's name is Lorraine, purple and blue ombre hair, smirks a lot, I call her Lorde, she doesn't hate it, after a while it stuck," he put the straw back in the beverage, recalling things about his band mates, "Black dude with stunning amber eyes playing the drums, that's Jonas," Kurt frowned, making Sebastian smirk, "He's also very straight and has no sense of fashion."

"Really? Because your stripped polo with a popped up collar doesn't give you points to judge," Sebastian blinked, not entirely sure what Kurt was talking about, "Scandal's, remember?"

"How do you remember what I was wearing? I don't remember what I was wearing," Sebastian pointed out, surprised with Kurt's skills to memorize outfits.

"Stripped polo with a popped collar, Sebastian," he pointed out, making the other boy laugh.

"It wasn't my finest outfit, actually, it was pretty bad," he shrugged. "I don't remember what I did with that polo."

"Burned, I hope," Kurt mumbled, Sebastian laughed again, shaking his head in amusement.

The whole thing was so... strange.

Hearing Sebastian talk about his classes and band mates and making an occasional comment about his siblings. Everything was disjointed, Sebastian was mentioning things as if Kurt knew them, but Kurt didn't know that Sebastian was the youngest of three children, having a sister and a bother older than him. Kurt didn't know Lorraine was Sebastian's friend since childhood or that Rich thought him how to roll the drumsticks on his fingers and did it all the time with pens and pencils, driving Jonas crazy, who would take them away from his half the time.

Hearing Sebastian so casually talk about his life, simple details in it made Kurt feel... good, like Sebastian trusted him enough to let him see the simplicity of his life, the bases of his day to day.

"I thought you were an only child," he blurted in the middle of sentence about how much Sebastian's sister - _Marinette_ , his brain supplied - loves to collect souvenir spoons.

"Eh?" the comment caught Sebastian off guard, "Really?"

"Well," Kurt made a face, "No offence, but you were a spoiled brat."

"None taken," he waived his hand, "You're not that far away from the truth, I was spoiled rotten," he smirked. "I'm not an only child, but my siblings are 10 and 12 years older than me."

"But," Kurt frowned then his brain caught up with the implication and he had to cover his mouth to not laugh out loud.

"Come on, laugh it off," Sebastian coincided, grinning. "My mother calls it a happy surprise."

"Oh my god, of course you started your life with a bang," it fitted. It completely fitted Sebastian to not be planned yet loved.

"Andre always told me about the way my mother looked so delighted when she told him he was going to have a bay bother while Marinette wonder if she could boss me around now that wasn't the youngest."

"She's the only girl," Kurt pointed out.

Sebastian nodded, "She bossed everyone around, even before me, is part of her charms."

There was a fond smile in Sebastian face, as if remembering his sister's personality gave him a nice memory. The expression wasn't alien en Sebastian's face, but Kurt was not used to see it. He had only seen a moment of vulnerability in Sebastian's face, after he apologized for all his actions back in High school and never saw such expression again.

Of course he never saw it again, he wasn't close to Sebastian, Kurt concluded, the Sebastian he knew is the one he made of him in his head. Now the real one was right here, in front on him, talking of his big brother and sister and nice, he was so human that Kurt felt uncomfortable.

He didn't notice when Sebastian stopped talking, only when his stare became intense on Kurt's distracted form.

"Excuse me?" Kurt asked and Sebastian raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't...?"

"You're distracted," he pointed out, his expression neutral.

Kurt inhaled, searching for words and for some reasons unknown to him – to his piled up annoyance – Sebastian gave him the time to do so.

"You're being too nice," he said, regretting it almost immediately. Sebastian tilted his head to a side and blinked once. "What?"

There pause and then Sebastian laughed, it was a full laugh matched with a grin of someone who knew something you didn't.

"A few years ago I made the commitment of being less of an asshole," he explained, remembering his words to Blaine – _I turned over a new leaf, remember?_

"Really?" Kurt looked not unconvinced but... confused.

"Really," Sebastian confirmed. "The whole being nice thing eventually stopped sucking and the changes kind of stuck so, here I am."

It wasn't that strange, of course Sebastian continued with his life, he had been talking about it for a while now, even after Kurt finished his beverage. Sebastian didn't seem to be unconformable in Kurt's presence, it was the other way around, but only because Kurt, for a moment, forgot that Sebastian didn't stand still in time after high school, both of them continued with their life and both of them grew in their experiences.

"I'm sorry," Kurt whispered and this time it was Sebastian who looked confused, "I'm not sure what I'm doing."

Sebastian looked at him in contemplation, licking his lower lip before morphing his expression into a small smile, "Looking for closure?"

"What?"

"I never apologized to you, after our high school mess," he stated, "I was sorry, I am sorry, the whole thing went too far."

"No, I mean yes, it went too far but I was not looking for an apology..."

Yet, in his mind, he couldn't help but go back to the many times Sebastian's name popped up in his mind, related to Blaine, he even was the first one he thought about when Blaine cheated on him.

Closure didn't' sound so bad, after all.

"Its fine now," Kurt said and he means it, "We're fine now."

Sebastian nodded, satisfied.

\------

There were three missing calls and 12 text messages in Sebastian's phone by the end of his coffee date with Kurt. He sent a general "I'm fine, calm down" message to his band mates – his friends – and walked down the street to go back to Campus.

He pulled his vape out and took a long drag of the ginger and spice flavor as he walked, feeling almost normal.

Sebastian enjoyed the afternoon with Kurt, it was nice to catch up, clear up and move on. Now he saw the possibility of them not being the high school rivals anymore but friends, and who knows.

Smiling to himself, he exhaled the flavored vapor. He liked Kurt, he could admit that much.

"Hey!"

Sebastian ignored the man calling, as often one does with strangers in New York, he didn't expected him to come closer and take Sebastian's by the shoulder.

There was a moment of white noise and the air in Sebastian's lungs didn't seem enough, he suddenly was scared, trapped and unable to move. Why he couldn't move? Why did his eye hurt so much? What was happening?

"Give him space!"

He blinked the fog, finding himself against a wall, with the man that called for him looking at him almost scared and a few personas around, before all of them was Kurt, looking concerned.

"Sebastian?" he asked, his tone low as if he didn't want to scare him, "Come on, everything is ok..."

His hand was against his left eye, he didn't notice until now. "I don't feel well."

"Sorry sir," the stranger that spooked him said, "You dropped this."

A set of keys, he noticed. Sebastian smiled at him, strain and forced, "Thanks."

His hands were shaking too much so Kurt took the keys and then moved to Sebastian's space, offering him his hand, "Shall we go?"

The crowd around him moved as if that was their cue. Sebastian took a deep breath and his shaky hand grabbed Kurt's, they walked away from the corner.

They walked for a while, without direction. Kurt's grip on his hand was soft but Sebastian's was firm, using it as an anchor.

"What happened?" Kurt asked after a few blocks, looking worried.

Sebastian's first instinct was to say it was nothing, but clearly it was something.

"I got lost," he said, "In my head."

He forced his hand down, not wanting to cover his left eye again, Kurt noticed.

"You know, I'm in no hurry to go back to my apartment," Kurt announced, calmly, as if Sebastian was not shaking, "Would you show me the way to your place?"

Let me walk you there, was the implicit message and Sebastian found himself grateful for it.

"Yeah... let's go."


End file.
